Think back - waaaaaaaaay back - to September, October, November of last year. In the months leading up to the midterm elections, Democrats promised to end the "culture of corruption" that seemed to plague the Republicans in Congress. They hammered this point - and they won on it. Now it's time to see if they really meant it.
From a Washington Post editorial today:
THIS WEEK will tell whether House Democrats recognize the voter disgust with Washington that helped them win the majority -- and whether they are willing to change their behavior in response....A good, if imperfect, package of reforms to do that is set to come to the House floor this week. But passage is far from assured.
Democratic leaders, notably Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), caucus chairman Rahm Emanuel (Ill.) and Rep. Chris Van Hollen (Md.), head of the Democrats' campaign committee, are behind the bill. But many rank-and-file members refuse to accept that voters want, and that they need to deliver, a significant change from Washington business as usual. These legislators need to know that they will be held accountable for their votes -- not just on the reform package itself but on the procedural rule to allow it to be brought up for debate. A vote against the rule is a vote against lobbying reform.
Leadership - whose faces are attached to everything the Democratic-controlled Congress does - and freshmen - most of whom were elected on this platform - understand the importance of these reforms. Many strong reforms have already been removed from the bill - the revolving door extension, the bundling and astroturf disclosure...but there is still a provision to require lobbyists to disclose the amounts they fundraise for lawmakers over and beyond their individual contribution. It's this provision that is still causing dissention among the rank and file, who are looking increasingly out of touch with the electorate they're going to have to answer to in 2008.
So this is their chance to prove the naysayers wrong and show us that they really did mean it last fall.
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